


Whimper

by afrocurl



Category: Veronica Mars (TV), Veronica Mars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Community: apocalyptothon, Gen, Nuclear Warfare, Nuclear Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-07-18
Updated: 2009-07-18
Packaged: 2018-02-13 11:34:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2149197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afrocurl/pseuds/afrocurl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wallace is the only one!  Or how to potentially survive the Apocalypse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Whimper

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lyonie17](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lyonie17/gifts).



> Betaed by the lovely [](http://starxd-sparrow.livejournal.com/profile)[**starxd_sparrow**](http://starxd-sparrow.livejournal.com/), and written for [](http://lyonie17.livejournal.com/profile)[**lyonie17**](http://lyonie17.livejournal.com/) at the 2009 [](http://apocalyptothon.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://apocalyptothon.livejournal.com/)**apocalyptothon**.

Wallace Fennel had never been a fan of irony. It never served a purpose to him, he knew that, and it had never been a useful way to look at his life.

If he was honest, his life was one of those many definitions of irony - something Veronica liked to point out whenever she could - but it didn’t sit well with him.

Never had Veronica’s pushing that definition on his life been more apparent than when he found himself outside of Neptune at the end of the world—the US at least. He just wanted to be back in Neptune, but he was forced to stay put, waiting for the first strike to land.

-*-

The first bombs dropped in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington DC. Naturally, everyone fled, hoping to escape the lingering radiation from North Korea’s arsenal.

Wallace watched as the news covered the devastation - the outlines of people painted in ash seared onto the sides of buildings, radiation sickness not seen since Hiroshima and Nagasaki, piles of the dead buried in mass graves. Worriedly, he called everyone he knew from his apartment in Seattle, silently praying everyone was still alive. An hour later, he was relieved to know no one, save Nathan, had been affected by the blasts. Alicia had been hesitant to talk about his biological father, but Wallace could tell by her tone of voice he hadn't made it.

Alicia reassured him Veronica had been on assignment in North Carolina during the bombings, and that she was en route to Neptune, formally as an agent, but really as a woman going home to her family. It did little to comfort Wallace that even the FBI seemed to be giving in to North Korea.

-*-

The day following the first round of bombings, Wallace set out to find the makings of a bomb shelter at the local hardware superstore. He realized the Cold War had ended when he was still learning to place Russia on a map, but he also knew he needed to make sure he was still alive, in case anything happened to anyone.

The rainy weather would make construction harder, but it wasn’t anything he hadn’t overcome before.

-*-

_“Wallace, you’re miserable with these classes,” Veronica said, shoveling manicotti into her mouth as they sat in his room._

_“But it’s all I’ve ever wanted to do, V,” he chided, pushing the plate of food away in favor of his mechanical engineering book._

_“Need I remind you about how much you hate this class? You bitched to me about it yesterday.”_

_“Whatever, I want to design airplanes, and I’m going to do it come Hell or high water,” he retorted as he drew his attention back to the book._

_“Whatever you say, my brother.”_

Veronica called three days later. Things in Neptune weren’t easy, but everyone was making due. Wallace had heard on the shortwave he hooked up people had left Los Angeles and flooded Balboa and San Diego Counties in search of safety.

Wallace had scoffed at Veronica's tales of people sleeping in their old high school gymnasium and erecting tent cities, chiding them for not realizing San Diego was still a target because of the Navy despite the government's continued warnings.

“Give them a break,” Veronica replied, “they just want to feel safer.”

“It’s just dumb, s’all I’m sayin’ V.”

“True, but don’t tell me you haven’t started to prep for anything up in Seatac?”

“Maybe...” he trailed off.

“See, you’re just as bad as all of the Angelinos overrunning the town.”

Instead of responding, he just told her to take care of herself, and they said goodbye. He'd always hated it when she was right.

-*-

Construction went into high gear as soon as bombs razed Atlanta, Boston, Dallas and San Francisco. Kim Jong Il had no problems bringing about the end of the world, it seemed, so long as the North Koreans were the last ones left.

_Stupid fucker._

-*-

_”Everything will be okay, Darrell. That guy won’t be back again. Mr. Mars promised,” Wallace confided._

_“Promise?”_

_“I promise,” Wallace confirmed, holding tightly onto his little brother._

“Are you scared?” he asked Darrell who was carrying on pretty much as normal from a dorm room at Arizona State.

“Duh, Wallace. I mean it doesn’t look like Il is going to stop anytime soon. We’ve got some people camping on campus from California.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, the people seriously scared are all hoping for some of that oceanfront property here now, I guess.”

“That’s messed up, Darrell.”

“This whole thing is messed up, Wallace.”

“True. Hey, don’t tell Mom, but I’m building a shelter for me up here.”

“Now who’s being scared?”

“Not scared, just prepared.”

“Whatever, Boy Scout,” Darrell dismissed. “I gotta go; we’ve still got class.”

“Take care, ya hear?”

“Of course; between you, Mom, and Keith, I hear it enough.”

-*-

He only needed another two trips to finish up his shelter—hopefully he had that long, because he’d heard that Denver, Philadelphia and Minneapolis were all gone on his way back from the increasingly barren superstore.

-*-

_Not much had changed in the suite since the last time he was here._

__Of course not, dumbass. It’s a hotel suite. __

_“Logan, are you here?” he called out into the room after noticing the door ajar._

_“Back here,” Logan shouted._

_“Why aren’t you in the living room? Please tell me V isn’t here.”_

_“Man, no, she’s not here,” Logan replied as he walked into the living room from his bedroom._

_“Then why am I?”_

_“Can’t we just hang out again? Y’know like high school.”_

_“Because we only hung out for the benefit of your girlfriend and my BFF.”_

_“Oh, right,” Logan realized slowly. “Xbox 360?”_

_“Do you really need to ask?”_

“Stay safe, man, please. Trina didn’t make it out of LA, and I’m not sure how much longer Neptune is going to last.”

Logan’s voice rang through the small condo while Wallace walked in. He scrambled to the phone, quickly taking it off the cradle. Mobile service had long since been disrupted completely, and even landline service wasn't very reliable.

“Logan?” he asked.

“Yeah, Wallace, you’re still okay?”

“As well as we all can be. I just got back from the store - I’m putting together a shelter.”

“Just for you? Isn’t that selfish, man?”

“I’m not going to join the hordes in Neptune right now. All I hear V talk about are the idiots who got out from LA ruining everything else, and how much she’s running the show at the Sheriff’s department because Vinnie is a sissy.”

“Whatever, dude. I have to hear her more than you.”

“Good luck, Logan.”

“Says the man not here.”

“Maybe I’ll make a trip down soon.”

-*-

Three days later, Wallace was on a plane towards Neptune - only to collect the ruins of his mother’s house and his friends’ lives.

Shock took over as soon as he heard word at work that both San Diego and Camp Pendleton had been hit.

_Fuck karma._

The flight down was nearly empty - most were too scared of landing in the path of another nuke and the rest were still hung up on the chance of terrorists on airplanes. At the very least, the silence afforded Wallace the chance to think about everything he needed to find.

Given that he had to fly into an airport two hours from Neptune, he drove quickly from the suburban town to his former home. Along the way, hundreds of buildings stood empty; boarded up windows and deadbolt locks characterized every strip mall he saw.

By the time he reached Neptune’s former city limits, he had to stop the car from the shock of what remained of the place he'd come to think of as home.

Rubble was flung about the highway. Ghosted people stood eerily silhouetted against the few remaining standing walls. Overturned vehicles littered the road; some were still burning.

Slowly collecting himself, he went back to the car, picking his way through the detritus to where his house had been. Even the rest of the town couldn't prepare him for the devastation done to his former home.

The shingled roof was in pieces all around the block, mixed with chunks of the house and guesthouse. In the grass were pieces of his MVP trophy from senior year, tangled in between parts of a mattress and flower-print sheets.

Wallace felt sick, staring at his life amid the rubble. Any thought of seeing Veronica’s place vanished as soon as he hit the ground, tears blurring the waste laid before him.

Much as he wanted to forget it all, he was the new kid in Neptune, not the last one left.

_This is the way the world ends_

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

Not with a bang but a whimper.


End file.
